Birthday Bewilderment
by gingerlizard91
Summary: Grissom is so fixated on his work that he doesn't even bother to celebrate his birthday. The CSI team will change all that. Just a short little...thing.


A/N: This was originally a Christmas vocab story I handed in for English. We had to use all 20 of our vocab words and incoporate them into something creative...as you can see, I kind of went overboard. You may probably be able to point out the "big" words. But I got a 100 on it (my teacher watches CSI...score!), and I just thought it would be fun to post. It's nothing special, I just hope you guys like it.

* * *

It was common knowledge throughout the crime lab that Gil Grissom did not like the prospect of doing paperwork.The night shift supervisor sat drearily in his office, a sanctuary far from a semblance of order (as usual). His stacks of paperwork needed finishing and they were required to be done before the upcoming Friday...which was the next day. He would've tried working at home, but his teenage neighbors blasting music into the wee hours would've sparked a nasty altercation and would've killed a great deal of precious time. 

A resounding knock came at Grissom's door. Catherine stepped across the threshold, slowly closing the rift between them.

"It doesn't surprise me that you're here late," Catherine sighed. She was clearly expressing her dissent when she said, "You should get home and get some sleep. I mean, come on, your birthday's tomorrow..."

"I have a calendar, thanks, Catherine," Grissom spoke through gritted teeth. "I'm in the mood to surmount my mountain of work, so…Do you mind?"

"Listen, just take a break for a minute," the blonde pleaded. "I want to show you something."

Grissom was quickly becoming irate, but he decided to comply. "I'll tell you, though – the sheriff doesn't condone late paperwork."

Catherine grinned. "You're one of the most eminent bug specialists in the country. I think you can afford to rest once in a while." She turned on her heel and walked out, egging Grissom to follow her. He did so, unwillingly, as Catherine made sharp turns down every hallway imaginable.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Grissom called, but Catherine was way ahead of him and not even listening. Grissom strived to keep up, wishing Catherine would abridge the trip, when finally she did, ducking into the breakroom.

_The breakroom?_ Grissom thought. _Oh, no…_

His fears were confirmed. What Catherine was trying to show him was abirthday party, planned just for the Bugman himself. Sure,the party was a little trite, with a food and drink table, streamers hanging from the ceiling and metallicdecorations on the wall,but it didn't seem to matter, becauseeveryone from the lab was there: Nick, Sara, Hodges, Jacqui, and countless others.

Catherine materialized before a stunned Grissom. "We figured the marauders could ease up for at least tonight."

Grissom grinned as he watched Hodges pilfer a cookie from Detective Vartann's plate.

Warrick suddenly came up behind Catherine in the hall carrying Grissom's paperwork. "You won't need to worry about this," the tall CSI said. "Your faithful adherents will have everything done before the deadline. Those adherents being us, of course."

"Thank you," Grissom said, directing the remark to both of his colleagues.

Catherine back off. "Oh, don't just thank us. Sara planned everything."

Grissom tilted his head in curiosity. So this was Sara's doing, was it? He searched for Sara across the room and found her chatting it up with Nick. She looked absolutely cherubic and seemingly innocent of having done anything. Grissom approached his pair of protégées casually. Nick noticed and flashed his mile-wide Texan grin. Sara hid behind a cup of soda.

"I suppose you didn't want Catherine fabricating a story or I wouldn't have fallen for it," the supervisor said.

Nick said, "We all knew you were too good for that, Griss."

The brunette beside him refused to speak at this point. Nick and Grissom stared at her, waiting for her to terminate the silence. Sara caught Grissom's penetrating gaze and blurted, "There was supposed to be a budget meeting in here – guess I usurped the place pretty well, huh?"

Grissom raised his eyebrow up into his mass of salt-and-pepper hair. Without warning, he pulled Sara into a genuine hug. She nearly spilled her drink but accepted the gesture whole heartedly.

"I wonder what the paupers on the Strip are doing tonight," Grissom wondered after he'd released Sara.

Sara smiled. "Did this party exorcise theworkaholic from you?"

Grissom eyed her with a grin. "Maybe. As long as I get my presents."


End file.
